The Lion King Surpasses Phantom as Broadway’s All-Time Highest Grossing Show

Disney’s Tony-winning blockbuster The Lion King has surpassed Broadway’s longest-running show Phantom of the Opera as Broadway’s all-time highest grossing show, according to CBSnews.com. The Lion King, which recently became Broadway’s sixth longest-running musical, has grossed a total of $853,846,062 during its run, while Phantom’s cumulative gross is $853,122,847.

Based on the popular Disney film, The Lion King first opened on Broadway on November 13, 1997 at the New Amsterdam Theater, before transferring to the Minskoff in 2006. Now in its 15th year, the show has spawned 19 productions around the world and has been translated into seven different languages. The Lion King won six Tony Awards in 1998 including Best Musical. Director Julie Taymor became the first woman in history to win the award for Best Direction of a Musical.

Winner of seven 1988 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera is a timeless story of seduction and despair. The megahit musical first opened in 1986 at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London. Since then, the show has grossed more than $5.6 billion worldwide and is currently running in London, New York, Budapest, Las Vegas and Kyoto. On January 11, Broadway’s longest-running musical celebrated its 10,000th performance at the Majestic Theatre, where it first opened on January 26, 1988.